Menu

The home cook's guide to seasonal produce recipes.

Beach Picnic Tuna Salad with Chard Confetti

by thefarmersmarketfoodie

This week is spring break and I have done the unthinkable. I’ve gone to Disneyland, Sea World and Legoland with my two small children in the past 5 days. I’m in need of my own break and a good deal of therapy as 2 of the 3 parks do not sell alcohol to their adult visitors. Add in our friends visiting from Boulder with their 2 kids and we total 4 kids 4 years old and under. We spent the majority of our days thankful our tubes were tied and wandering around each park in search of adult beverages. When we asked one of the parks why they were treating us so poorly by refusing to sell us anything to make our day more tolerable, they said that they had sold alcohol in the past but “people kept leaving their children behind”. Shocking, yet totally believable.

Another shocking discovery is that not all parks let you bring in your own food. As if we weren’t shelling out enough money to get inside, now we’ve got to cough up $7 for a kiddie hot dog and $9 for a beer (well actually, I’d have paid twice that with the 4 kids in tow).

I hit a wall eating burgers and park food very quickly, so when we decided to take a “break” and do a beach day with the kids (not really sure that counts as a break) I felt I needed to bring out something portable and healthy.

Last week I’d committed to adding more confetti to my life (see “Mixed Green Salad with Chard Confetti”) and because I didn’t have any celery it was just the crunch my tuna salad needed. I also added some dill-flavored Majestic Garlic spread (see “Majestic Garlic” for purchase info) and it added the perfect zing without any extra work. My Boulder friend who was visiting neglected to tell me she did not like tuna salad and I sensed she felt obligated to try some when I brought it to our beach day. She tells me it was the first time she has ever liked tuna salad. I take that as a major victory! That and the fact we didn’t have to wait in any lines with crying children wishing we had $9 beers to console us.